Reversal of Fortune
by RocknVaughn
Summary: If Emrys could not fulfill his destiny to free magic, then Mordred will do it for him... General S5 spoilers. Major Character Death. Another Camlann story with a bit of a plot twist.


Reversal of Fortune

by RocknVaughn

**A/N:** Yes, I'm _full_ of Camlann fics, lately... Blame the stupid BBC/Shine/the Js for it! *grumbles*

This ficlet was written for the Camelot Drabble prompt #34: Devotion.

And yes, for anyone who reads my other works...I have _not_ abandoned No Better Assassin. Real life and writers block have kept me from updating that fic, but is thoroughly NOT been abandoned. I will post on it just as soon as I can!

And please, I would love your feedback! Thank you!

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Sir Mordred, the Druid knight of Camelot, hunted for Arthur like a cat might stalk its prey...his jaw set, his muscles tight and ready to pounce.

_Emrys was wrong. The prophecies were wrong…it was __**all**__ wrong,_ Mordred seethed. King Arthur was _never_ going to accept magic…and people like _him_, people like Morgana…were never going to be free under his rule.

Even _Emrys_, who had stood faithfully by the King's side for ten years, would not be free while Arthur Pendragon lived. Honestly, rather than being angry with Emrys…Mordred pitied the fabled warlock. He truly believed that Emrys meant well, but after so long of hiding his gifts from the world, he had lost sight of the world he was meant to create. He had stopped believing in his own destiny, and in so doing, let down all his brothers and sisters that had been counting on him to lead them to a new day, a Golden Age.

Well, if Emrys could not affect the change that needed to happen, then Mordred _would_.

It was not long before Mordred, cresting a small hill, found the object of his quest. He was kneeling about thirty yards away, checking the pulse of a fallen Camelot knight on the ground before him. He watched in silence as the golden mane of the king's hair flowed in the summer breeze as he shook his head sadly and pushed himself to a weary stand.

Mordred took a sure-footed step, and then another, as if pulled by a magnet…and then a disturbance in the magic of the Old Religion caused him to stumble to one knee, gasping for breath and shutting his eyes against the sudden pain in his heart.

Just like that, he knew: Morgana was dead. Emrys had killed her, as had been foretold. Rage unlike any he had known before flooded Mordred's bloodstream. How _dare_ he? How dare Emrys kill the only other person who understood his quest, the woman who loved him like a sister, like a mother?

Emrys had taken the person most precious to him in the world…and now, he would return the favor.

Mordred rasied his head again to stare down at his quarry and was briefly startled when their eyes met. The king had barely moved five feet in the time Mordred's attention had been elsewhere. Yet in that space of time, Arthur had noticed him standing there, was watching him…was waiting for him, almost as if he were _expecting_ him. Well, who was he to keep his liege waiting?

As Mordred approached, Arthur said nothing. Instead, he twirled Excalibur in his hand once in his signature move before settling into his battle stance.

Mordred almost faltered at the sign of this oh-so-familiar motion, one he'd seen thousands of times in hundreds of training sessions with his once-beloved king…but then the thought of Morgana lying dead somewhere in the field behind him hardened his heart and firmed his resolve.

He walked faster, just kept coming, right into Arthur's space, swinging his sword around his head as if he might lop the king's head right off. Of course, Arthur parried the blow easily and shoved him forcibly backward.

"Why? Why are you doing this, Mordred?" Arthur asked in a voice that sounded weary, more mentally than physically.

"You _know_ why!" Mordred declared, taking another swing, this time at the Arthur's midriff. It was also blocked. Mordred grunted in frustration. "Magic users have the right to be free, and you will _never_ give them that freedom!"

"Why? So that sorcerers like Morgana can use it to destroy and corrupt? What right do people like that have to be free?" Arthur did not attack, Mordred noticed; he simply waited for the next blow.

"Not all magic users are like Morgana…but she has only become what you and your father made her! She was once good and kind…and you destroyed her with your hatred and your judgment!" Mordred thrust forward and then turned on his heel when the king blocked him, and the pommel of his sword connected with the side of Arthur's head, making the man stumble sideways.

Arthur shook his head as if to shake away water from his hair. "She never told me! She never confided in me! She could have trusted me…I would have helped her, if I could."

"What kind of hypocrisy is that? You would protect your sister but not change the laws governing those like her? You would allow sorcery only when it suits you?" Mordred's voice was little more than a growl and his blade whirled and twisted, singing in the breeze as it whistled just past Arthur's arm, clanging off his chainmail as it went.

"I have only ever seen sorcery used for evil purposes," Arthur countered, panting a bit now. "How can I trust such a thing to be good if I have never seen it be such?"

Mordred's face turned red with fury and his anger made his eyes glow a steady gold. "Never seen it used for good? You have been _surrounded by it_ and _protected with it_ for the past _ten years_! If you cannot see that, then you did not deserve the honor; you are not _worthy_ of the title 'The Once and Future King'!" Mordred darted his leg out and swept Arthur's legs from under him, dropping the king to his knees.

Mordred he raised his sword and went in for the kill. "And now I end this farce, Arthur Pendragon… I end the so-called 'Golden Age of Camelot'…I end _you_!" Mordred put both hands on the pommel of his sword and pierced the king's armor, spearing the man through the stomach with mortal force.

The young knight gulped nervously as he felt an electric jolt vibrating his sword, even as it remained pierced through Arthur's gut. Raising his head, Mordred's astounded eyes met not the cobalt blue eyes of Arthur Pendragon, but eyes that were so gold that they burned brighter than the sun.

"_Emrys!"_ Mordred gasped aloud, stunned. He watched the glamour of King Arthur fall away from the warlock impaled upon his sword as the _real_ king appeared at Mordred's side: safe, albeit a bit dumbfounded himself.

However, it took only a hairsbreadth of time before Arthur realized what Mordred had done to Merlin. He buried Excalibur into the young man's gut to the hilt and then roughly shoved the traitor backward onto the ground to die.

As Mordred's hand slipped off the pommel of his sword, Merlin slowly slid backward toward the ground, but Arthur had his arms around him before he could fall.

"Merlin!" Arthur gasped with tears in his eyes. "What happened? Gods…what did you _do_?"

Merlin's breathing sounded unnaturally thick, but he wheezed with a hint of a grim smile at the sound of Arthur's voice, "I saved you, Arthur. I saved you."

Laying his old friend gently on the grass, Arthur swept back the ebony hair that was plastered to Merlin's clammy forehead. "Dammit, Merlin, you're not allowed to die!"

Merlin coughed…a hacking, squelchy noise. "You know I never do what I'm told…"

Tears blurred the king's vision as he snorted a half-laugh, half-sob.

"Don't leave me, Merlin…" Arthur begged. "Please…"

"Can't help it," the warlock wheezed, "but you'll be all right now. I fixed it."

"Fixed _what_?" Arthur demanded, but already Merlin's face had grown pale…he was fading.

"Destiny," Merlin murmured.

Arthur gasped as Merlin's eyes glowed gold; and in front of the king an achingly familiar blue orb appeared, floating and twisting just as it did long ago in a faraway cave.

"Oh, Merlin…" Arthur breathed, understanding at last what he had never seen, had never even _dreamt of_ before that moment.

"Magic _can_ be used for good, Arthur…" Merlin whispered, his eyes closing for the last time. "Others can—and _will_—just like I did…but only if you let them."

Tears spilled fast and unashamed onto Arthur's cheeks as he watched the beautiful blue orb flicker before fading softly into the mist.

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**A/N**: Now...before you flame me for doing that, let me point out that this fic is _not_ marked "Complete..."


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